Kenny Miller says Ally McCoist was 'huge factor' in Rangers return

KENNY MILLER has admitted Ally McCoist was a huge factor in his return to Rangers.

PUBLISHED: PUBLISHED: 00:02, Sun, Dec 21, 2014

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Kenny Miller said his return was due to Ally McCoist being at the club

And the hitman is determined to deliver the Championship title for his outgoing boss.

That may seem a tall order as Rangers are languishing behind Hearts in the race for the Premiership.

But Miller, who came back in the summer for a third spell at Ibrox, remains confident Rangers can bridge the gap and secure the perfect parting gift.

Miller said: “I’m not the only one in that dressing room who thinks very highly of the manager.

“He’s got a great relationship with a lot of lads in there. What the club has been through in the last three years, everybody deserves the title, but nobody’s going to hand it to us.

“If it hadn’t been for the gaffer then guys like myself wouldn’t have had the opportunity to come back here, so he’s a huge factor.

“For me, it goes without saying that whatever manager I’m playing under or club I’m playing at I go out there to play for them, that’s the way I go about my business.

“But when you’ve got a guy like Ally in charge… The years I was away I stayed in contact, I consider him my friend. The staff are great guys and I want to go out and put on results and performances to get the club back in this title race and push to get promoted.”

Rangers crashed out of the Petrofac Training Cup at Alloa and lost to Queen of the South hours after news broke of McCoist’s resignation.

Miller admits recent displays have not been good enough.

He said: “I’m not going to start going down the road of players letting the boss down, the players have let ourselves down.

“The results of the last five, six games are not the standard for this club. We’ve let the manager, ourselves and fans down. Alloa, then last Friday night, everything about those games wasn’t good enough and we have to put it right between now and the end of the season.”

Rangers’ style of play has been criticised during McCoist’s tenure, with questions asked about his coaching ability.

But Miller insists McCoist is following the blueprint that brought former gaffer Walter Smith so much success.

He said: “I worked with Ally in the Scotland team. He’s one of my heroes so for Ally McCoist to be passing on advice, any snippet of information that was going to help me going into a game in general, you are always going to take that on board.

“People throwing those accusations around are not here, they don’t see what goes on behind the scenes.

“The players know what goes on in the workplace day-in, day-out. Whoever is going to comment on things like that, you really need to spend a bit of time and see what goes on.

“From the time I came back seven years ago under Walter Smith, things haven’t really changed. Training is very similar.

“But people are jumping on something to say why we’re not doing as well as we did in the past.

“It’s up to us as players to go and put things right on the field.”

Miller insists no other club has been through what Rangers have in the past three years, but despite them once again being in a financial mess he has no regrets about returning.

He said: “It’s what I wanted. When I was leaving Vancouver this was the only place I wanted to be.

“I could have stayed there, I really enjoyed my time over there, but when I got the chance to come back here it was what I wanted.

“Yes, there are off-the-field issues and you’re never going to be able to hide away from them and escape them.

“But you just have to get on with your job, which is playing and winning matches.”